Summary
Shums Kassam is a founder and engineering leader with nine years of experience building and scaling developer-focused products and high-throughput backend systems. As Co-Founder and CTO of Hatchways (YC S19) he is modernizing technical hiring by designing real-world developer assessments that capture both hard and soft skills. Previously he led Kik’s Toronto engineering team, operating services at >1500 RPS and shipping major integrations like Kin, and co-founded BlynkStyle, a consumer mobile startup acquired by Kik. His hands-on background spans Python, GCP/AWS, grpc/Protobuf and mobile and web stacks, with early ML and signal-processing projects in battery state estimation and autism research. Comfortable switching between code, architecture and product, he brings entrepreneurial grit from multiple startups and leadership roles in student and community organizations.
9 years of coding experience
5 years of employment as a software developer
Y Combinator
Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.) Engineering Science, Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.Sc.) Engineering Science at University of Toronto
IB and OSSD, IB and OSSD at St. Robert Catholic High School